To the editor:
I was deeply concerned to hear the news of a pair of North Bay teens committing suicide recently.
As if it wasn’t bad enough city council refused to identify IPV as an epidemic in our community, now we have teens committing suicide because they didn’t feel they had the support at home, school, or community.
This has everything to do with gender-based hate crime, which is a consequence of gender inequalities that affect anyone perceived as not complying with prevailing gender norms. Gender-based hate crimes often seek to intimidate and suppress ways of life or expressions of identity that are perceived as not complying with traditional gender norms. They have a significant, long-lasting impact on the victims, and undermine security and social solidity/unity by perpetuating gender inequalities. Most important all of us have a very important role to play in countering this and all forms of intolerance.
Imagine we have children at Sick Kid’s Hospital fighting for their lives every day, due to illnesses ravaging their bodies, and here we have healthy, strong, talented, and capable LGBTQ students, signing out because they can no longer take the pain, of not being enough or belonging. Absolutely heart-rendering and heartbreaking.
How have we as a society allowed this undeniable tragedy to occur and exist, a monstrosity that almost always impacts our most vulnerable and susceptible in society?
Then to make matters worse we have adults, who are part of a national protest to “protect children,” spewing information such as, “The Ministry of Education is now in the business of sexually grooming students and is allowing books in libraries and classrooms that promote paedophilia.” Unbelievable! I personally would like the titles, authors and page numbers of these books, stating these particular facts.
The objective of the Ministry of Education and sex education is to prevent and protect students by presenting medical evidence-based facts with solid foundational groundwork, allowing openness for dialogue, and encouraging discussions without bigotry and prejudice.
Parents being allowed to set the curriculum for sex education, on how/what/when/where it should be taught, would be sheer negligence on the part of the Ministry of Education. The reality is the vast majority of parents don’t know the facts, have never learned the facts and most importantly never talk about the facts, only their own misguided indoctrinated limited version.
Ignorance, secretiveness, shame and guilt have plagued sex-ed conversations for years, habitually due to religious and cultural reasons, and this oblivious behaviour/attitude needs to stop.
Has no one learned anything?
Children/teens have been brutally raped, violated, and assaulted for years, by people who have disguised themselves in positions of trust, friendship, support, and religious faith. Have we not learned anything from the history of the “TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION’ debacle? Years and years of Intergenerational trauma, have destroyed generations of lives. Because the white straight kid, grew up propagandized these particular people need to be eradicated, for they are not worthy, not enough, and do not belong/matter.
The statistics are staggering as noted in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) which shows sexual minority youth are more than three times as likely to attempt suicide as heterosexual peers. Transgender youth were at highest risk, nearly six times as likely to attempt suicide as heterosexual peers.
It appears the difficulty in self-acceptance and social stigmatization might be the keys to understanding such elevation in the risk of these self-threatening behaviours. But there can be many protective factors such as having support from the family, a safe school environment, a safe and supportive work environment, and access to psychological and medical care, which can all make a difference by allowing them to live their authentic lives and contributing greatly to society.
LGBTQ communities experience the largest gaps in housing access and income equality, they experience stigma and discrimination within the healthcare system and LGBTQ people continue to experience discrimination in the workplace or the workforce.
The bottom line is research shows sex education that’s culturally responsive and inclusive helps young people develop the social and emotional skills they need to become caring and empathetic adults. This type of sex education early and often leads to an appreciation of sexual diversity, dating, and intimate partner violence prevention, development of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex abuse, improved social/emotional learning, and increased media literacy.
It also helps young people avoid unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
Sex education works best when it is
• Taught by trained professionals
• Taught early and often throughout the lifespan
• Includes both information and skill-building activities
• Evidence-informed
• Inclusive of LGBTQ+ youth
• Rooted in anti-racism practices
• Trauma-informed
• Adapted to the needs of the community
The human heart is too grand to be wasted in the gutter of cultural exclusivity.
Barb Laverock
North Bay
